#Apple’s war on #Samsung has #Google in crossfire

Officially, it's Apple versus Samsung Electronics in another tech patent faceoff in a San Jose, California, courtroom this week. But there is one unnamed party in the case - Google. 

In a lawsuit, Apple is seeking about $2 billion in damages from Samsung for selling phones and tablets that Apple says violate five of its mobile software patents. Samsung, meanwhile, says Apple violated two of its patents. 

Some features in Samsung devices that Apple objects to are part of Google's Android operating system, by far the most popular mobile operating system worldwide, running on more than a billion devices made by many manufacturers. This means that if Apple wins, Google may have to make changes to critical Android features, and Samsung and other Android phone makers might have to modify the software on their phones. 

"Google's been lurking in the background of all these cases because of the Android system," said Mark P McKenna, a professor who teaches intellectual property law at Notre Dame. "Several people have described the initial battle between Samsung and Apple as really one between Apple and Google." 

Representatives for Apple, Samsung and Google declined to comment. 

The current case, which begins on Monday with jury selection, is the second major court battle over patents between Apple and Samsung, which rode the success of Android to become the biggest handset maker in the world. Samsung lost the first case in 2012 and was ordered to pay $930 million in damages. 

That amount is pocket change for Apple, one of the richest companies in the world. And it hardly interfered with Samsung's ability to sell phones; the company, which is based in South Korea, shipped 314 million handsets last year, according to the research firm IDC. 

So this second fight has to be about more than money, said James Bessen, a law lecturer at Boston University. He said that if Apple just wanted money, it would have already agreed to settle.

Still, going after Google by attacking Samsung is difficult, Bessen said. Both Google and Samsung could alter features to avoid infringing on patents. And by the time the trial and appeals are finished, newer devices will have supplanted the products in question. 

"To kill Android with a half-dozen patents," Bessen said, "just seems like a long shot." 

Long shot or not, combating Google's Android system was a cherished goal of Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive, who died in 2011. He called Android a knockoff of the iPhone and told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that he was willing to go to "thermonuclear war" just to kill Android. 

He also told Isaacson that Apple's past patent lawsuit against HTC, another Android handset maker, was about Google all along. 

"I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product," Jobs was quoted as saying in Isaacson's book "Steve Jobs." 

In the case set to open this week, Apple's legal complaint aims at some of the features that Google, not Samsung, put in Android, like the ability to tap on a phone number inside a text message to dial the number. And although Google is not a defendant in this case, some of its executives are expected to testify as witnesses. 

Apple has a long history of choosing battles against what it views as copycats. In 1988, the company sued Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, claiming that software programmes sold by the two companies, including Windows, infringed on Apple's copyrights on how information was presented on the Macintosh operating system. After a four-year legal struggle, Apple lost on nearly all its claims. 

Apple filed its latest complaint against Samsung more than two years ago in the US District Court in San Jose, accusing Samsung of infringing on software patents involving both the iPhone and iPad, including the 'slide-to-unlock' feature for logging in, and universal search, the ability to look up items across the device and on the internet at the same time. 

For those patents, Apple wants $40 per infringing Samsung device sold in the United States. Apple lists several Samsung products that it says violated its patents, including the popular Galaxy S III, which at one point surpassed the iPhone in sales, and the Galaxy Note II. 

"Instead of pursuing independent product development, Samsung slavishly copied Apple's innovative technology," Apple said in its complaint. 

Samsung says Apple has infringed on patents covering how a photo album is organized, as well as a method for transmitting video over a wireless network. It bought these patents from Hitachi and a group of American inventors. 

The case will be tried by a jury of four and is expected to last a month. 

Apple's lawyers plan to argue that by copying the features of Apple's devices and then selling millions of phones, Samsung harmed Apple, because people who bought Samsung phones presumably would have otherwise bought iPhones. Apple will probably try to illustrate that Samsung is a copy machine, not an innovator, by pointing out that the two patents Samsung says were infringed on are not based on Samsung's own ideas because they were acquired from other inventors. 

Samsung's lawyers will try to argue that Apple's patents are invalid by demonstrating that similar software features were being developed by Google and others before the iPhone was released. They will also probably argue that Apple's complaint poses a threat to competition because the patents Apple says were infringed on broadly cover Android, meaning other phone manufacturers could be dragged in to the dispute. 

Expected witnesses include Philip W Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing; Todd Pendleton, chief marketing officer of Samsung's American division; and Hiroshi Lockheimer, a vice president for engineering in Google's Android division. 

Apple has some advantages entering the trial. It won the last fight with Samsung, which might carry weight with jurors trying to decide if Samsung again infringed on patents. And the judge, Lucy H Koh, who also oversaw the last trial, has already decided that Samsung infringed on one of Apple's patents covering a method for automatically correcting incomplete or misspelled words while a person is typing. So Samsung is already down one. 

That does not necessarily make this an easy fight. To streamline the trial, Koh limited the number of patents that each company could assert were infringed on. Apple must argue that just a few patented features are worth a great deal of money, when there are thousands of other patented inventions that make a smartphone tick. 

"When you have a case where a party comes in with a handful of patents and says, these are the really important ones, these are the patents that are worth several dollars apiece per phone - from a simple economic standpoint, that doesn't make a lot of sense," said Brian J Love, a law professor at Santa Clara University who teaches courses on patent law. 

In January, the companies' top executives met with a mediator to discuss a possible settlement, but to no avail. Settling would be difficult for either company, in any case, given their clashing business strategies. 

Apple's approach is to develop software that runs exclusively on its hardware, and the company generally does not license its patents because it hopes that may prevent others from reproducing its products. 

Samsung has found success in making all kinds of products, like washing machines and refrigerators, or smartphones and television sets. It is unlikely it would tear features out of its best-selling smartphones without putting up a fight. 

#Apple may launch #iPhone 6 in September: Report

Apple is likely to release its newest iPhone globally in September with a higher resolution and bigger screens, Japan's business daily reported on Friday. 

The handset, expected to be called the iPhone 6, is expected to come in two versions with a 4.7- or 5.5-inch screen, up from the current four-inch panel, the report said, without citing sources. 

US-based Apple is ordering its higher-resolution liquid crystal display screens from Japanese electronics giant Sharp, Japan Display and South Korea's LG Display, it added. 

Taiwan's Commercial Times reported earlier this month that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has started producing chips for Apple's next iPhone. 

Apple released its current iPhone 5 in September 2012 and newer versions in the series last year. 

There was no immediate comment from Sharp, whose shares rose 1.96% morning after the news as the broader market was flat. 

Ref - TOI

First impressions: #Samsung Galaxy S5

Samsung is back with a new flagship Galaxy phone - Galaxy S5. This is going to be the best, most powerful and most feature-rich Galaxy phone for around a year. While we will have the full review of the device in the coming weeks, we checked it out today at the launch event in New Delhi.

Here is what we think of it based on the brief time we spent with the device.

The first thing you notice about Galaxy S5 is that the glossy plastic cover - much hated by users but much loved by Samsung - found on previous galaxy phones is finally gone. In its place Samsung is using a back cover made of plastic that has a matte finish and that feels soft - almost like velvet - to touch. The back cover also has a dotted pattern but the dots are small.

We feel the change in the design and material of back cover is for good. Galaxy S5 does look and feel better than Galaxy S4. Though it still can't match iPhone 5S or Xperia Z1 in terms of looks.

The other striking bit about Galaxy S5 is how light it feels despite packing in a large screen. With its rounded edges, it fits in hands very well and due to its relatively low weight it is easy to hold and use it.


The build quality of Galaxy S5 looks top notch though there is still not much of metal in the body. Mostly it is plastic but to give the device a premium look, Samsung is using a frame in metal finish that fits around the phone.

The three buttons - two touchscreen buttons for Back and Menu options and one physical button for Home - sit below the screen. There are no onscreen buttons in Galaxy S5.

Galaxy S5 has a dust and water proof design. The USB 3.0 port on the device is covered with a flap.


The home button has a fingerprint scanner. In our use, we found it works well. A user has to swipe his finger on the Home button and if the fingerprints match, the phone unlocks. If the fingerprint scanner cannot unlock the phone, a user has the option of putting in password or PIN manually.

The other sensor - heart rate sensor - which is located under the primary camera also works well. It integrates with S Health app on the device and measures heart rate when a user places his or her finger on top of the scanner.

The Indian version of Galaxy S5 is powered by an Exynos processor. It has four A15 cores, which are meant for tasks that require high performance like gaming. These cores run at 1.9GHz. The processor also four low power A7 cores that run at 1.3GHz.

In our brief use we found the device to have very good performance. Opening apps or scrolling through app drawer is lag-free and smooth. But we will need to play games, multitask and try out some demanding apps before we can say more about the performance part of the device.

The camera seems responsive and fast. We took some shots with and found the focus speed to be very fast. But this is another area that we will explore in detail in our full review.



Overall, Galaxy S5 seems an impressive device. The design and how it feels in hand is better compared to Galaxy S4. The features look good and so does performance. We will have more to say about it the full review in the coming weeks but our first impression is that this is going to be one of the best smartphones you will be able to buy this year.

A few words about Galaxy Gear Fit
Just like Galaxy S5, Gear Fit is surprisingly light. It also uses an all plastic - or rather rubber and plastic - design but on the wrist it looks really cool with its large 1.8-inch screen.

The device can track the physical activity of a user. It can measure the steps taken in a day or distance covered in a jogging session.

There is a heart rate sensor under the Gear Fit. But unlike Gear 2, it doesn't have a camera. Gear Fit will work with select Galaxy devices, including Galaxy S5. It can also show notifications like calls or messages received on the phone.

How #Apple has changed under #CEO #TimCook

You could be forgiven, after reading 'Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs', for concluding that Apple is on the verge of going belly up. In the new book by Yukari I Kane, the company is depicted as having radically declined after the death of its former impresario. 

Under Timothy D Cook, who took over as chief executive shortly before Steve Jobs died in October 2011, Apple "teeters at the edge of a reckoning," Kane writes. Its executives, she adds,"cannot find their own way forward. They are tired. They are uncertain. The well of ingenuity has run dry." 

Cook said in a statement that it was all"nonsense." He's right.

There are two ways to assess how well Apple has done under Cook. You could look at its financial performance, which is boring but instructive. Or you could do as Kane does and instead sift through all the noise and commentary surrounding the company — observers' assessments of its shifting corporate culture, of its executives' temperaments during product-launch events, or the fact that such arbiters of taste as Mitch Albom, the author of 'Tuesdays With Morrie', no longer care for Apple's advertising. 

For the most part, Kane sticks with these more subjective assessments, and she arrives at a familiar set of conclusions. She argues that Apple has forgotten how to innovate, that its products are too closed and expensive, and that it is failing to live up to its own well-honed hype. These aren't novel critiques; they've been seen as evidence of Apple's imminent failure throughout its history, even under Jobs. And there isn't much evidence that they're any more true now than they were in the past. 

Cook's book
Let's start with the numbers. In the two and a half years since Cook took over as Apple's CEO, the company's annual revenue has grown by about 58%, and its profits by about 40%. That compares favourably with many of its rivals, including Google, whose profits increased by about 25% in the same period.

It's true that the growth in sales of Apple's biggest product, the iPhone, has slowed under Cook. Last holiday season, the company sold 51 million iPhones, an increase of about 38% since 2011, when Apple was selling the last iPhone that Jobs worked on.

That level of growth is slower than in periods under Jobs; for instance, between the holiday quarter of 2010 and the holiday quarter of 2011, iPhone sales rose by 130%. The iPhone's growth under Cook has also lagged that of the wider smartphone industry, which means that Apple's market share is in decline.

On the other hand, much of the growth in the wider smartphone business has occurred at the low end of the market. Consequently, under Cook, Apple's share of the profits in the smartphone business has actually gone up. When Jobs ran the company, Apple raked in about two-thirds of all the world's smartphone profits. Last holiday season, under Cook, analysts' estimates put Apple's share of smartphone profits at between 76% and 87%. 

Taken together, what do these numbers tell you about Apple under Cook? They paint a picture of a company doing very well, if not as spectacularly as it did at certain times in the recent past. They suggest that while Apple's growth might have slowed, it hasn't stalled.

The numbers certainly do not suggest a company in decline. At worst, you can say that Apple has entered a period of stasis — though if stasis means earning 80 cents of every dollar of smartphone profits, that can't be so bad.

And this analysis doesn't even get to the deeper question, which is how well Apple would have performed during the last two and a half years under Jobs. We can never know that, of course, but it's not unreasonable to assume that Jobs would have run into some of the same problems regarding market share and growth that have dogged Apple under Cook. 

And you can bet your iPhone that he would not have adopted some of the advice that Kane gives — for instance, that Apple "open up its operating system and license the technology." 
The next big thing What's troubling about Kane's book is that she barely pauses to look at Apple's financial success since Jobs's death. When she does consider the numbers, she strangely interprets Apple's growth under Cook as evidence of his failure. There's a suggestion that the numbers don't matter because Cook's domain is numbers:"Tim Cook was a master of spreadsheets, not innovation," she writes. He has hired lots of MBAs, so, of course, the business has performed well.

To really understand Apple's supposed collapse, Kane wants us to consider other, more subjective bits of evidence. 

During Apple's recent product launch events, its executives have taken shots at its competitors — evidence of the firm's "insecurity," she writes. Cook is justifiably faulted for the fact that Apple released buggy apps like Maps and Siri and then, oddly, for the fact that he fired Scott Forstall, the executive in charge of those features. Cook's high standards, Kane says, risks "stifling innovation."

When Apple began selling the iPhone 5, the company billed the device as "The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone," a tagline that Kane describes as"uninspired" compared to the"bewitching" taglines that accompanied previous Apple launches. Some hits from Jobs's tenure include"The funnest iPod ever" and"If you don't have an iPhone, well, you don't have an iPhone." Bewitching, eh?

Kane's primary objection to Apple under Cook is that it hasn't given us the proverbial "next big thing." 

Since 2010, when it unveiled the iPad, Apple has only made incremental improvements to its devices, while competitors like Google have gone public with their plans for robots and self-driving cars and computerized eyeglasses. (Though they haven't begun selling these doodads.) This is a tired criticism, one that fundamentally misunderstands how Apple works. 

Apple has always created its next big things in secret. Unlike Google and Microsoft, it rarely publicizes its innovations before they're ready. The fact that we don't know what Apple will do next could be evidence that it has run out of ideas. But you could have said the same thing late in 2001, just before it launched the iPod, or in 2007 just before it launched the iPhone, or in 2010 just before it launched the iPad. 

Indeed, people did make such claims then, pointing each time to Apple's slip into just making incremental improvements, and insisting each time that it meant Apple was done for. History hasn't been kind to their predictions. Could those critics be correct now? Sure. The technology industry is brutal, and Apple, like any other company, could fail.

But the fact that Apple has gone four years without some category-defining new product isn't evidence that Apple has lost its way. Instead, it mainly proves that Apple under Cook is operating just like Apple under Jobs. That should be reassuring to anyone who cares about the future of the company.

Ref - TOI

#Windows 8.1 update 1: What's in #Microsoft's latest #Windows update

It would be fair to say, at this point, that Windows 8 has not been a success. Beyond the typically harsh technology community, even the everyday users of Windows 8 are not content. 

The fragmentation between the elements of Windows 7 that made it into Windows 8 and the more 'Modern UI'/Metro elements are confusing, with basic Microsoft products such as the Office suite awkwardly flipping between the two states. 

Things that people loved, such as the Start Menu, have been removed and replaced with a more Windows Phone-style Start screen, signaling a change of focus on Microsoft's part from desktop to tablet - a change that is not intrinsically good. 

Things that people loved, such as the Start Menu, have been removed and replaced with a more Windows Phone-style Start screen, signaling a change of focus on Microsoft's part from desktop to tablet - a change that is not intrinsically good. 

Thankfully, Microsoft has been listening and produced Windows 8.1, which made amends for some of the features that were omitted, or removed, from previous versions of Windows. Unfortunately, 8.1 didn't go all the way in fixing Windows as it currently is, which is why Microsoft is going to release Windows 8.1 Update 1 (a mouthful, to say the least). 

A copy of Update 1 was accidentally leaked by Microsoft itself on its software updates page but will be formally announced at Build 2014. Here we'll take a look at what's new. 

What's new in Update 1 With Update 1, Microsoft has aimed to create an operating system that will work better on low-range hardware, requiring only 1GB of RAM and 16GB of mass storage to run (Windows 8.1 required at least 2GB of RAM and 32GB of mass storage). 

The focus is obviously on spreading Windows across as many PCs as possible, especially in business where Microsoft is considered to be losing its edge against Android and Apple tablets and smartphones. 

Microsoft has also moved the software power button onto the home screen for easier access, as well as chafing the right-click behaviour when clicking on the Live Tiles or Modern UI elements of the OS. Right-clicking now brings up a regular Windows context menu, even in Modern UI apps, as opposed to the options pane as before. 

OS mismatch Unfortunately this introduces yet more fragmentation, as the new contextual options don't always match those within the app. While many users won't notice, it does further increase the sense that Microsoft has essentially bolted two OSes onto each other and called it a day. 

With Windows 8, Microsoft chose to rather turn their backs on keyboard and mouse users, choosing instead to hastily focus on the touchscreen aspect of the OS. Update 1 goes some way to retrace their steps and make features which were previously difficult to access with a mouse far easier to find. 

We've used a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 with both fingers and a mouse, so it's easy to see how neglected laptop and desktop users would feel. Some operations that were easily completed with your finger would take multiple mouse movements and clicks before being completed on a desktop. 

Desktop boot Another added bonus for desktop users is the ability to boot directly to the desktop, meaning you can use Windows 8.1 as you would have used Windows 7. Internet Explorer also shows the tabs and address bar by default, again cutting down the clicks. Clicking on photos and videos in the desktop mode opens them in the desktop, not Metro, apps, too. 

Not all of Windows 8.1 Update 1's changes are positive, however. Microsoft have decided to make the taskbar accessible throughout the OS, regardless of which environment — Modern UI or classic Windows — you're in. 

Summoning the taskbar in Modern UI apps forces the taskbar to overlay over the bottom of the content, obscuring some of it from view and click-ability. Not only is the implementation ugly, but it is also a usability nightmare and something Microsoft should address before releasing Update 1 to the public. 

OneDrive SkyDrive has been rebranded to OneDrive and is making its debut in Update 1, however, very little has changed from the SkyDrive app in Windows 8.1. 

While Windows 8.1 Update 1 doesn't address all of the issues that users have with the operating system, it certainly goes some way towards amending some of the more gaping holes. Desktop, and laptop, is now easier with the integration of the two modes — desktop and Metro — becoming a little closer. 

The fact that Microsoft is even considering an Update 1 is a sign of progress, having left previous OSes for years without major updates. Choosing to follow Apple's yearly update calendar will serve Microsoft well in the eyes of their users, and that's what matters.

#Google enhances encryption technology for email

Google has enhanced the encryption technology for its flagship email service in ways that will make it harder for the National Security Agency to intercept messages moving among the company's worldwide data centers. 

Among the most extraordinary disclosures in documents leaked by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden were reports that the NSA had secretly tapped into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world. 

Google, whose executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said in November that he was outraged over the practice, didn't mention the NSA in Thursday's announcement, except in a veiled reference to "last summer's revelations.'' 

Yahoo has promised similar steps for its email service by this spring. 

Google and other technology companies have been outspoken about the US government's spy programs. The companies are worried more people will reduce their online activities if they believe almost everything they do is being monitored by the government. A decline in Internet use could hurt the companies financially by giving them fewer opportunities to show online ads and sell other services. 

"Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always available is important to us," Nicolas Lidzborski, Gmail's security engineering lead, wrote in a blog post. 

Lidzborski said that all Gmail messages a consumer sends or receives are now encrypted. 

"This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between you and Gmail's servers, but also as they move between Google's data centers — something we made a top priority after last summer's revelations," Lidzborski wrote. 

A secret Jan. 9, 2013, accounting indicated that NSA sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the NSA's suburban headquarters, according to documents released by Snowden and obtained by The Washington Post last year. 

The NSA's principal tool to exploit the Google and Yahoo data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency's British counterpart, GCHQ. NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants, the Post reported. 

The NSA has said it only focuses on targets with foreign intelligence value.

Ref - TOI

First impressions: #SamsungGalaxy Note Pro 12.2

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 tablet blurs the distinction between a laptop and a tablet computer.

Its on-screen keyboard has capabilities that are more common with laptops, and its screen is larger than what many laptops have. People can run several apps side by side, and multiple users can share the device with separate profiles.

Samsung also tries to make the Note Pro something professionals can use on the road, while leaving the laptop behind. It's packed with business tools such as a WebEx virtual conferencing app, a one-year subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek's digital magazine and one year of Wi-Fi access on airplanes through Gogo.

It's an impressive lineup of features. Unfortunately, it also has a price tag that exceeds that of many laptops - $750 for the base model with 32GB of storage and $850 for 64GB.

If your primary reason for owning a tablet is to consume content, such as video, music, books and magazines, Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 isn't for you. There are plenty of cheaper options out there.

It is for those who want to mimic a laptop experience, yet don't want to purchase - or carry - a laptop.

Its screen measures 12-2 inch, giving it about 50% more surface area than Apple's 9.7-inch iPad Air. The Note Pro is also larger than another tablet billed as a laptop replacement, Microsoft's 10.6-inch Surface Pro 2. It's also cheaper; the Surface Pro 2 costs $899.

With the Note Pro's larger screen, television shows and other content come to life. Digital magazines are closer in size to printed editions - though one drawback is that some magazines haven't been designed to be that large, so text looks fuzzy blown up. The larger screen also means having an on-screen keyboard that comes closer to replicating a physical keyboard. Keys are spaced in a way that I can type with all 10 fingers, the way I learned in high school eons ago. On smaller tablets, I have to inefficiently peck with two fingers.

The Note Pro's on-screen keyboard also has functions that aren't typically found on tablets. For instance, you can use the control key the way you can on laptops, such as Ctrl-C to copy text and Ctrl-V to paste.

And instead of having to toggle between keyboards for letters and symbols, you can access commonly used symbols such as the dollar sign and the asterisk by pressing the corresponding letter key for about one second. Arrows on the lower right side of the keyboard let you move the cursor with more precision than tapping on the touch screen.

That said, it's not the same as a physical keyboard. I still have to look at the keys when I type with 10 fingers, whereas with a regular keyboard, I can navigate by feel while keeping my eyes on the monitor. Samsung does sell a wireless keyboard for $60 and a mouse for $40.

While I'm on prices, I'll add that Verizon has a cellular version of the 32GB Note Pro for $100 more, or $850. It's $750 with a two-year service contract. Samsung also sells a variety of cheaper, Wi-Fi-only versions.

Unlike the Note Pro, these Tab Pro models don't come with a stylus for writing on the screen. A 12.2-inch version goes for $650, while $500 gets you 10.1-inch and $400 gets you 8.4-inch. The 8.4-inch model doesn't have the laptop-like keyboard I just described.

To further confuse matters, Samsung also has the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) tablet, though it came out in 2013. The $550 tablet does have the stylus, but lacks the new keyboard.

When I wrote about the Note 10.1 in October, I marvelled at how tablets were getting some of the functionality typically associated with PCs. In particular, I liked the various multitasking features, though one called Multi-Window limited you to two apps side by side.

The Note Pro lets you run up to four apps that way. That means having Gmail on the upper left portion of the screen, while YouTube video plays on the upper right, a web browser opens on the lower right and a chat app runs on the lower left. You can change how much space each app takes and save configurations so that you don't have to open the four apps individually each time.

If you want to run more than four, you can activate Pen Window. Apps open in a window that floats over the main app on the screen. You can have several apps open at once, and you can temporarily set an app aside by minimizing it into a small dot.

However, the multitasking capabilities work only with selected apps. That includes more than two dozen of the common ones, but not Netflix or Hulu. I wish I could have streaming video going while I do other stuff on the side.

On Windows 8 tablets, you can run up to four apps side by side, depending on the size of the screen, and there are no restrictions on which ones. You also get access to a wider range of software designed for traditional computers, including Microsoft's Office. The Note Pro is fundamentally an Android tablet with some interface changes and apps to give it a laptop feel.

What's nice about the Note Pro is its compatibility with Android phones and Google services. You'll have to weigh whether that's more important than running Windows software and whether all that is worth the $750 price.

And keep in mind that compared with Apple's iOS system, Android still doesn't have as many apps specifically designed for the tablet's screen size. Many tablet apps are simply larger versions of phone apps. The iPad is also cheaper, starting at $499, though the base model comes with half the storage available in the Note Pro's $750 model.

If you've settled on an Android tablet, the Note Pro is a decent device, albeit a pricey one. Although it isn't quite ready to replace your laptop, it gets you closer to that experience than any other Android tablet I've tried.

Ref - TOI

#Micromax Knight A350 review: Best in its class

Micromax is India's second biggest smartphone company. But that is what market research firms say. Over 16% market share of Micromax is a fact. It is not a perception. 

In the minds of consumers, Micromax is a local company. Few consumers put it in the league of Sony or LG even though Micromax sells more smartphones than both in India. The perception is that Micromax makes smartphones that are affordable but not necessarily top class. 
For over a year now, Micromax is fighting, and fighting hard, to change this perception. 
In 2013, Micromax launched Canvas HD, Canvas 4 and Canvas Turbo with an aim to show that it can make and sell phones that match the quality and finish of global products. The company did not hit the home run in its attempt but largely it succeeded. All three Canvas devices were better than anything else it had sold earlier. 
Knight A350 is the next flagship Micromax phone. And it continues the company's quest to win the respect that it feels it deserves. This time, in our opinion, it hits the home run. 
Build and design
Knight A350 is a phone unlike any other Micromax made earlier. Though when compared to devices sold by companies like Sony and Apple, Knight A350 doesn't look all that different. 


The phone uses a glass and metal body. The back cover and the front of the screen is topped with tough - but not of Gorilla variety - glass. Except the protruded camera module on the back, it is all smooth glass. The phone looks similar to Sony's Xperia Z phones, which too use glass and metal body. But there are some differences. Unlike the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 compact, which have rounded edges, Knight A350 has edges that follow the pattern set by iPhone 5. 
Knight A350 has chamfered edges, though they are not as shiny as what you get on iPhone 5 or iPhone 5S. 
Knight A350 has a slim - and a little tall - profile. The tall profile means it is not as wide as some other 5-inch phones out in the market. The slim and tall profile of Knight A350 makes holding and using the phone quite easy. It is possible to use it with one hand. 
Overall, we like the design and build quality of Knight A350. The glass feels tough and while it will inevitably collect scratches - it is glass, after all - it is nice to see Micromax not going for some cheap materials here. The finishing, especially the way glass bonds to the metal frame and how the buttons and edges feel, is also good. 
That said, we have two minor complaints. Knight A350 attracts smudges easily and because of shiny glass body, these smudges are very much visible. Also, glass, or for that matter metal back covers, tend to absorb the heat from the processor inside the phone and make the device feel hot to touch, especially if you are playing a game on it. It happens with iPhones and it happens with Knight A350. If you are playing a game or browsing a few websites on Chrome, the back cover on Knight A350, especially under the camera module, gets warm. 
Display
Knight A350 has a 5-inch screen with a FullHD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. For a phone that costs less than Rs 20,000, A350 has a very good screen. It shows punchy colours and has good viewing angles, which means colours don't fade or lose contrast when you look at it from a different angle. The high-resolution means it shows sharp text and images. Even the level of brightness is good. Unless you are going to be directly under the sunlight, the screen on A350 remains legible during outdoor use. 
Software
A350 is powered by Android 4.2.2. That is an older version of Android - the latest one is Android 4.4 - but in terms of features there is not much difference. Micromax is using a customised version of Android in A350 but there are not many tweaks or user interface changes. The biggest change is the launcher, which uses different icons and theme. The default icons for apps like Phone Dialler and Camera in Knight A350 have square shape. It also has a translucent background in the app drawer, which is available in the stock Android 4.4, but not in stock Android 4.2.
By and large, the changes in the Android user interface in A350 are minimal, which is good. User interface on A350 will feel familiar to anyone who has used an Android phone before. 
A350 comes with some third-party apps installed by default. These include BBM, Hike, True Caller and Kingsoft etc. While some of these apps will be useful to some users, we prefer phones that don't have third-party apps installed by default. Users who require these apps can always get them from the Android app store. But when they are installed by default, users who don't need them can't uninstall them. 
Camera A350 has a primary camera that shoots 16MP images. We all know that number of mega pixels doesn't matter much when it comes to image quality. Thankfully, the camera in A350 is a decent performer. In good light, it clicks images that have lots of details and right amount of contrast.



In low light, the images tend to have some noise but unless you are shooting in really dim light, for example in a restaurant while having dinner, you will get images that are good enough to be shared on a social media site.



What about video? A350 can shoot videos in 1080P aka FullHD resolution. But the video format is 3GP, which is not as nice as MP4 that other smartphones use. The videos we shot with A350 showed that the camera can record footage that is clear and where subjects are in good focus. But it also over processes videos. It bumps up the colours and they look too rich to be real. It also tries to reduce the colour noise very aggressively and that makes objects look smoother than they actually are. That said, given the price of the device we will call video recording in A350 acceptable. 
The front camera can snap images in 8MP. But don't get excited about the big number here. The performance of the front camera is just average. It works for occasional selfies and video chats but don't expect it to click stellar 8MP images for you. 
Performance
A350 is powered by MediaTek's MT6592T processor. It is an 8-core processor capable of running at 2GHz. However, don't let the 8-core moniker fool you. The processor uses A7 architecture from ARM which is aimed at providing mainstream performance and not high-end performance. While 8 cores matter, they will not be properly utilised unless there is an application that can use all these cores simultaneously.

Currently, no popular app can utilise an 8-core processor properly. More important here is the 2GHz speed. MT6592T is a fast processor, capable of handling the everyday work load with ease. Combined with 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, MT6592T provides Knight A350 with good enough hardware to deal with web browsing, multimedia playback of videos in various formats and photo editing etc with ease. While there is some lag from time to time, especially if you are multi-tasking or scrolling through a list quickly, it is barely noticeable and rarely a factor that affects the experience. 
GPS in the phone works well and reliably. While making calls we found the call quality to be good and we never had to shout in the phone to make the person on the other hand hear what we were saying.
One area where, Knight A350 really excels is the speaker. While it is a mono speaker, it is very loud. This helps while playing games or watching movies on the device. 
The battery life is where Knight A350 stumbles. When used with a 3G connection, the device lasts around 9 to 10 hours. This is 2 hours less than what we typically see in an Android phone. 
Gaming
The MT6592T processor in A350 has four core of Mali 450 for graphics processing. While this is not a cutting-edge graphics, it is capable of handling most of the current Android games. During our test, we played casual games like Angry Birds and demanding games with high quality graphics like Asphalt 8 on A350. In both types of games, we had a good experience. In Asphalt 8, we played with graphics quality set to maximum and the game ran without any lag or dropped frame rates. 
Verdict
It is easy to like Knight A350. Its design is good, performance satisfactory and screen best in its class. Even camera is decent. We feel Knight A350 is worth Rs 19,999, the MRP Micromax has set for it. 
However, if you are looking to buy a smartphone with a budget of less than Rs 20,000, our first recommendation remains Motorola Moto G, which is available for Rs 13,999. Overall, Moto G is a better value for money. It is also slightly faster - though not in games - than A350 and has a much better battery life. 
But if you decide to give Moto G a pass, A350 is a very good choice. It has a bigger (and sharper) screen, a better camera, more graphics performance, 2X internal storage, extra 1GB RAM, and a much more attractive design.

Ref - TOI